Daily Lesson from Life 05 February 2009

"Thu, Feb 05, 2009 AsiaOne - Are females bosses inferior to male bosses?

Singaporeans prefer male bosses over female ones, reported my paper today.


A new study released by the Manpower Staffing Services on Tuesday revealed that out of 625 Singaporeans who were surveyed, only 2 per cent of men favoured female bosses over male bosses and 10 per cent of women hold high opinions of female bosses.

In total, only 9 per cent of Singaporeans surveyed reckon female bosses are better than male ones. This figure is significantly lower compared to other countries in Asia (13 per cent) and throughout the world (18 per cent).


Female superiors are often stereotyped as emotional people who constantly have mood swings.

Last year July, U.S. based Manpower Inc conducted this survey on a global basis across 33 cities with over 29,000 managers and chairmen.


The survey which was conducted in Singapore also revealed that more than half of (63 per cent) the participants did not have any preferences over male or female bosses. This number is much higher than the answers gathered on a worldwide basis (44 per cent).

Mr David Ang, Executive Director at the Singapore Human Resources Institute (SHRI) believes that the reason behind this is because Singaporeans are more concerned over the capabilities of their superiors than their gender."

An interesting topic to reflect on! Personally I find comparison between the genders on managerial leadership is quite pointless as nature does not favour the male or female to be a good boss in general! Of course there will be the exceptional ones who are born with the leadership quality. Otherwise most leadership skills can be learned and developed!

Lessons for me are:

1. the 2 surveys revealed a significant difference - the sample size! One has only 265 paxs while the other has more the 29k all over the world. In addition, we are not sure who the 265 paxs are - subordinates or managers? While the other survey participants are manager and chairmen! The survey result may be influenced or skewed by if the respondents are managers/leaders or workers! This is the technical consideration we need to have if we want to have a good light to light comparison!;

2. leaving the technicalities aside, female and male leaders ALL can perform well and be well-received and respected by their subordinates IF they do the 7e Way of Leaders things! Regardless of gender, everyone likes his or her leaders to be able to envision, enable, empower, execute, energize, and evolve grounded on solid ETHICS!;

3. The vision must be 'to do greater good for everyone instead of just benefiting the leaders or company!. It preferably should include the input from the people who have to execute it. Two-way open communication to get alignment from the Top-Down and the Bottom-Up versions of vision is key to getting commitment and buy-in. Soft and hard skills required to achieve the visions must be developed and encouragement for good performance must be timely and honest! Continuous improvement is the ultimate goal and everyone are provided that same opportunity to excel The energizing, however, must be in the form that the recipients desired (instead of just your idea of a reward!). Continuous renewal imply: 'to evolve' by not satisfied with the status quo. Talk to me!!

I believed female and male, where he or she is naturally born leader, or non-born leaders, as long as he or she is determined to learn and acquire new ASK for TOP D and apply them, he or she will make great leaders!